Tokyo Tourist
by ApostolicShadowNinjaGirl
Summary: American!Tourist!ReaderxJapan. After braking up with your boyfriend you take a trip to Tokyo. There you meet a young Japanese man and begin to fall in love with him. Will your story end with a happily ever after or will your heart be broken once more?
1. Chapter 1

**Readers POV**

You walked down the crowded streets of Tokyo, trying to convincing yourself you weren't homesick. Three months ago, you and your boyfriend Alfred had planned this four week trip and spent a good bit of money reserving a nice hotel room in the gigantic city. That was before, when Alfred had still claimed he loved you. A little over a month ago, Alfred had taken you out to a nice restaurant and told you that he had met and fell in love with a British girl named Alice. You were both going to cancel your trip to Tokyo, but after a day you decided that you would just go by yourself. Alfred and you broke up on good terms and you still talked to him every once in a while, but now you felt very alone, especially being in the biggest city in the world without knowing a single person or a word of Japanese.

You sighed and continued pushing your way through the busy street. Being the patriotic American you were, you had gotten off the plane dressed in a dark blue shirt with a giant star on the front and a knee length red skirt with blue and white striped leggings and red high heels. You also wore an uncle Sam style hat and red tinted glasses. Since this was your one week anniversary of being here you had washed those clothes and were now wearing them again. This caused you to recieve several giggles and chuckles, an occasional weird look and sometimes a "Amerikahito o kangei shimasu!" (Welcome American) or something along those lines.

You didn't mind the attention, actually you enjoyed it. It kind of distracted you from your total aloneness. You had enjoyed all the tourist attractions that you had gone to, but you couldn't help but think of how much more you would have enjoyed it if you had someone with you.

Right when your self-pity was coming to a climax you saw something out of the corner of your eye and ran forward through the crowd. When you realized what you saw was what you hoped it was you stopped. The world seemed to go in slow motion and angels sang as a glow was emitted from a familiar pair of golden arches. Ever so slowly you walked towards the door and pushed it open. It wasn't that you didnt like Japanese food or anything, but you really did prefer western food and you had eaten less since you arrived here. You were pretty sure you had lost at least ten pounds. That wasn't really a bad thing, but if you lost any more weight you would look like a scarecrow or a skeleton, and you didn't want that.

You walked into the McDonalds and was glad to see that almost no one was there. Of course it was by no means rush hour for restaurants so you weren't surprised.

At the counter there was a young Japanese man dressed in the normal McDonald's uniform. He looked to be maybe a year or two older than yourself. When he saw you, he looked interested, curious even. 'He's kind of cute.' you thought to yourself, approaching his cash register. "Umm, do you speak English?"

"Hai."

"Oh..." you frowned. You couldnt speak Japanese and since he couldn't speak English ordering would take a while.

He laughed lightly "That means yes."

You felt your cheeks color. "Oh. Do you have McDoubles here?"

"McDoubles?"

"Um, double cheese burger?"

"Yes, we have those."

"Okay, I want one of those and a fry and a coke. I mean coca cola."

"Alright." he rang it up and you fumbled around a bit with your money before handing it over. You stood to the side for a minute before the man started talking to you.

"How long have you been in Japan?"

"How do you know I'm not native?" you snorted.

"Well, you speak English like an American, you don't seem to know how to count out yen, and you are practically wearing the American flag." he smiled a little as you blushed furiously. Now you felt stupid.

"I've been here for a week today."

"That long?"

"I don't think it's that long."

You looked at him and when you looked closely he seemed embarrassed. "Its not I suppose, I'm just surprised that you can have been here this long without even knowing the Japanese word for yes." you looked down. The truth was that you hadn't really talked to anyone more than just to get from one place to another, and they all knew how to speak English. Of course, you hadn't really talked to them either. Actually you hadn't really talked to anyone since you left America. There was no one here for you to talk to, and there was no way you would call your mother and admit that she was right and you weren't really enjoying your trip due to loneliness.

After a moment of awkward silence he coughed a somewhat fake sounding cough and spoke up "So, what is your name?"

You smiled "I'm _ what's your name?"

"I am Honda Kiku, it is nice to meet you _-san."

"Nice to meet you too Honda, or is your first name Kiku? You Japanese people put your last name first right?" you fiddled with a strand of you (h/c) hair nervously. It really was embarrassing not knowing the culture, but surely he would understand.

"Um, Kiku."

"Okay nice to meet you Kiku!" after you said that he turned a deep shade of red. "You okay?"

"Y-yes, I'm fine. Oh look your food is here!" he turned away quickly and took a tray of food from another employees hands. You were surprised to see how small the drink and fries were, but for the most part you managed to hide it.

"Thank you!" you said and walked towards a table.

**Kiku's POV**

It took the strange american girl about fifteen minutes to gulp down her food and leave. When he had told her his name and she called him that without an honorific, he had to keep telling himself she didn't know, and she didn't mean anything by it. There was no way she could know after all. Right? She didn't even know what hai meant so there's no way she could know that she should use an honorific with his name. They didn't actually have honorifics in America as far as he knew so she shouldn't know that she needed to use one in Japan. She probably did it out of habit like he would continue using honorifics if he were in America.

Even though he kept telling himself these things he couldn't keep himself from blushing, which earned him a strange look from Suki-sempai when he took the food to give it to _-san.

As he watched her go, he wondered what the chances were he would see her again. They were not good he knew, but somehow he couldn't keep himself from hoping that he would see her again.


	2. Disasterous day

**Readers POV**

"Hi Al." you said tentatively into your phone. It was the day after you had found a McDonalds near your hotel and not much had happened since then.

"How are you doing? Are you enjoying Tokyo?"

"Yeah, it's awesome." you lied.

"Hmm." Alfred probably didn't believe you. You don't date someone for a year and not learn some things about them. "Well... I'm glad." it seemed he decided not to pursue it. Thankfully.

"So, how is it going for you and um, Alice?"

"I'm glad you asked!" his voice brightened a lot, and in that moment you knew he was more in love with her than he had ever been with you. "It's going really well."

"Oh?" your heart sunk a little. You thought you were completely over him, but maybe you weren't. After all, he was the most serious relationship you'd ever had. In fact, he was the only guy you had ever actually contemplated what it would be like to marry.

"Yeah! Actually, that's why I called. Yesterday..." he paused for a moment and you could just feel his excitement building, even through the phone. "I asked her to marry me!"

"Y-you did?" you suddenly got the urge to start crying, but for his sake you bit it back.  
"Uh huh! The wedding is in five months, will you come?"

"Of course I will! I-I'm so happy for you!" you had known it had to be something important for him to call you overseas. Somewhere deep in your heart you had hoped that he was calling to ask you to come back to him, but now you knew that would never happen.

"Thanks! I wish I could talk longer but this call is already too expensive. I'll see you when you get back?"

"Yeah."

"Good! We can go to Starbucks and you can tell me all about Tokyo. Have fun!" he hung up.  
You dropped your cell phone on the desk in your hotel room and then flopped on your bed and started sobbing. You had known that Alfred wasn't coming back to you, not ever, but somehow, having that confirmed without a doubt made your heart break all over again.

_**~around three that afternoon~**_

After spending the entire day floundering in your sorrow locked inside your hotel room, watching whatever tv show was on even though you couldn't understand it, you decided it was time to go out. Actually you were hungry. So, you threw on your favorite (f/c) hoodie and your favorite pair of comfy jeans and sneakers and started out the door. When you were halfway out of the door you ran back and grabbed your camera. After all, you never know when something might come along that you want to take a picture of.

You nodded greetings to random people as you left the hotel building and sighed when you got outside. The weather fit your mood; damp, cloudy, and raining. Well, it was more like mist than rain drops, but you weren't really in the mood to get technical about things.

For some reason, after you started paying attention to where you were going you realized you were heading towards that McDonalds, the one with the cute guy. You were thinking about how adorable he looked when he blushed when you felt something jerk your camera out of your hand.

"Hey!" you screamed, when you saw some guy crouched over, dodging through the crowd in an expert way and speedy pace with your camera in his hand.

"Come back!" you yelled, taking off after him. He glanced back at you for a half a second before picking up speed.

Your feet pounded into the ground, splashing puddles and soaking the bottom of your pant legs and causing you to receiving an occasional squeal or shout from a victim of your splashing or someone you almost bowled over. You were finally beginning to catch up to him. 'Come on, come on! Just a little more!' you thought.

Just as you reached for him your fingers brushed the bottom of his coat, then your foot caught on an uneven piece in the sidewalk and you fell and slid about a foot before coming to a stop. You were now thoroughly soaked down your front and the arm on your hoodie was ripped up.

Slowly you sat up, semi shocked, and you caught a glimpse of the thief before he disappeared into the crowd. You got up slowly and looked down at yourself. You had a good bit of mud (where did the dirt to make mud come from in the middle of Tokyo anyway?!) on the front of your pants and your hoodie, in addition to your torn sleeve. Your arm stung where you'd slid down the pavement and your legs were sore from your landing.

Even more depressed than before, you continued your walk down the street. The hat on your hoodie was down now, since it no longer seemed to matter if your hair got wet. Ironically, when you looked up the first thing your eyes landed on was the McDonalds sign.

**Japan's POV**

Kiku looked up when _ walked in. Her (h/c) hair was soaked and hung in strings around her face. Her clothes were wet and muddy and one of her sleeves were ripped open. Overall she looked like a completely different person than the one who had waltzed in yesterday.

She drug her feet towards the counter, leaving a small puddle trail behind her. "I want a Double Cheese burger and a fry and a coke."

Kiku didn't say anything but rang it up and gave her a concerned look. She fumbled around with her yen in the same way that she had the day before but much less animatedly. They didn't speak this time. Looking at her, Kiku felt it might be inappropriate, even though he yearned to ask her what had happened. So he kept his mouth shut.

_**~time skip~**_

She was still there. He'd given her her food almost an hour before, and she hadn't ate a bite. She just sat there, fiddling with a french fry and sitting her hands in her lap alternatively.

Now he was becoming a bit worried about her. Maybe something was wrong. 'I wonder if she's alone.' he thought 'There was no one with her yesterday, and there isn't anyone with her today either.' he frowned.

A beeping from his watch caught his attention and he realized his shift was over. Maybe if she was still there after he changed back into his street clothes he would go talk to her.


	3. Opps

**Readers POV**

You sat there and stared at your cold French fries. You had been hungry, or at least you had thought you were until you got the food. Now that you had it in front of you, the thought of eating it was completely revolting.

You bit your lip as your arm throbbed. Your legs had mostly recovered by now but for some reason your arm still hurt.

"_?" your head jerked up and you saw Kiku. Now he was dressed in a red shirt and a white jacket with white jeans and red converses instead of the McDonalds uniform.

You smiled a half hearted smile "Hi Kiku." he blushed again but not quite as badly as last time.

"May I sit here?" he gestured to the other chair at your table.

"I guess." you said.

"Are you okay?" he asked after a moment of awkward silence. "You haven't touched your food."

"I'm fine! Can't I not eat if I want to!? Is there anything wrong with that!?" you hadn't meant to raise your voice, but this day was really terrible.

"I don't suppose you have to if you don't want to, but you probably should."

You looked down at the table and fiddled with a string from your torn hoodie sleeve. 'What am I doing?' you wondered 'I don't even know this guy!' "I'm sorry. You didn't do anything and here I am yelling at you. I don't even know you."

"It's okay." he smiled a bit "Rough day?"

You stared at him for a minute and then burst into tears.

**Japan's POV**

When _ started crying Kiku didn't know what to do. So, he ended up sitting there wide eyed and staring at her. "Are you okay?" he asked when she finally started to calm down.

She sniffled a little then nodded. "I guess so."

"Do you mind me asking what happened?"

She began telling him everything that happened that day, beginning with her boyfriend -ex boyfriend- and ending with her stolen camera.

Kiku bit his lip. He really didn't know what to say. Maybe it was bad karma that had caught up with her. But looking at her now, he couldn't bring himself to believe she had done anything that deserved this kind of day. "That's... That's horrible." it was pathetic he knew, but it was the only thing he could figure out to say.

She sniffed and brought her (dominant hand) up to wipe her eyes and he gasped. "Anata no ude! I mean, your arm!"

She looked down towards her arm and her eyes widened. Apparently she hadn't noticed the red soaked material around the torn spot. "I guess it got a bit torn up when I fell." she seemed confused. He decided she was probably wondering how she hadn't noticed that before.

"Where's your hotel?"

"Um, eleven or twelve blocks from here I guess."

He jumped up and reached for her (uninjured) arm but stopped before he grabbed it. He hesitated for a moment then dropped his hand. Boundaries were boundaries after all, and he would only break them if the situation was dire. "Come on, we're leaving."

"Huh?" she slowly stood up "But what about the food?"

He screwed his mouth to the side and looked at it. "Someone will get rid of it eventually." he sighed. "Now come along." he started walking to the door.

**Reader's POV**

You followed him as he commanded, completely confused. Your arm was still throbbing, and you looked at it grimacing. How in the world had you not noticed? Half the sleeve was soaked in red! You really must be out of it.

Once out of the restaurant you took the lead, showing Kiku the way to your hotel and trying to cover your arm. Neither of you said anything until you reached the hotel.

"Wait there." Kiku told you, pointing towards the elevators. You nodded your head and obeyed, going to stand next to the elevators. Kiku walked to one of the desks (you weren't sure what it was for since it wasn't written in English) and said something to the clerk. The guy disappeared behind a door for a moment then reappeared with a small white box in his hand. Kiku said something and bowed slightly to the man who said something in return and did the same.

Kiku walked back to you and looked around. "We should go to your room."

You nodded, eyeing the box in his hand. You weren't sure what is was. And you couldn't read it. After the elevator arrived the two of you stepped inside and you pressed the button to the (f/n) floor, and the doors shut.

When you reached your room, you took out your keys and looked over at Kiku. Then you realized something. You don't know Kiku. He's a man. You're a woman. A woman who is alone in a foreign country. He probably didnt know that, and he really didn't seem the kind to take advantage of someone in that way, but you never really can tell. Your hand began shaking slightly as you opened the door. It was already too late to stop now. All you could do was pray that he wasn't that type of guy, and that you would get out of this situation okay.


	4. Helping me?

**Readers POV**

You stepped inside the room and jumped a little when you heard Kiku shut the door. When you turned around he seemed to be looking around your room so you took the opportunity to try and size him up. He was around your height and was slender. Living in Japan he probably knew at least a little of at least one martial art. Also, when he was wearing his short sleeved uniform at McDonalds, you had seen his arms. They weren't bulky, but you had seen he had decent sized muscles. Considering everything, you decided you would probably have a very slim chance of being able to fight him off if he were to attempt to force himself upon you. Even worse, at this time of day not many people would be in the hotel, so if you were to scream odds were that no one would hear you.

You suddenly realized Kiku was looking at you with a questioning look on his face. You blushed. He had caught you.

Finally he cleared his throat. "Why don't you change into a different shirt?"

"Alright." you said, giving him a wide berth as you walked to the drawer where your clothing was stored. You pulled out the first thing you saw. It was a (2ndf/c) Aeropostale (A/N I used Aeropostale because every young person in the US (excluding myself) seems to have at least one) shirt. At least it wasn't one of the shirts your best friend gave you that had something provocative written on the front. She'd gave you those claiming that they would help you get a boyfriend after your break up with Alfred. You didn't really like shirts like that, but you had brought them with you on your trip to please her.

You glanced back over at your male company then scurried to the bathroom. Breathing deep, you changed into the shirt and ran your shaking fingers through your now-semi-tangled (h/c) hair. You looked at you arm and winced a little. It hurt. It was still bleeding too. Not much, but it still must have been a bad scrape. You decided you probably caught it on something while you were falling. Why did you have to be such a clutz?

You sighed and opened the door slowly. Kiku was standing at your window looking at the street below. He almost seemed to be examining each person in the crowd, his face was so intense. Then you began to notice just how deep his eyes were. They were intelligent, understanding, gentle yet intense, and most of all, they were beautiful.  
You cleared your jumped a little then looked and you and smiled. "Come here and I'll bandage your arm."

Your eyebrows went up a bit. This was why he wanted to go to your hotel room? But why would a complete stranger want to help you?

**Japan's POV**

She looked surprised, shocked even, when he told her he would bandage her arm. He wondered why.

Kiku walked to the desk he had sat the first aid kit on and popped it open. After a moment of looking at her he spoke "Are you coming?"

"What? Oh, yeah..." she walked over to him and held out her arm tentatively.

He bit his lip and examined the cut. It was still oozing a little bit of blood. He would need to clean it before doing anything else though.

Kiku led _ to the bathroom, carrying the first aid kit in one hand, and picked up a rag that he wetted. "here, hold out your arm." she stretched her arm out for him and stared at it.

He rubbed the wet towel over her bloody arm, being as gentle as he could while still cleaning it off. After he was satisfied that it was as clean as it was going to get without hurting her, he took a bottle of disinfectant out.

"This is going to hurt." she bit her lip and nodded, and Kiku poured some of the clear liquid over it, making _ grunt and jerk her arm a tiny bit.

Once that was done he took out a long bandage and wrapped it tightly around her injured arm, securing the end. "How does that feel?"

"Better. Thanks."

He smiled "You're welcome. Do you feel up to going out now?"

"Um, I guess." she seemed relieved about something. He looked at her confused for a moment, but then shrugged it off. Women were strange enough as it was, without them being American.

**Readers POV**

"So, where are we going?" you asked on the elevator ride down.

He smiled almost mischievously "You'll see."

You frowned a little. "Aww, come on, tell me!" you suppressed a smile.

"No, you have to wait."

You smiled and shook your head a little. You felt so much more relaxed now that you were out of your room, and though your arm still hurt, just the knowledge that it was bandaged made you feel better.

The elevator stopped and you and Kiku walked out side by side. It felt funny in a nice kind of way. Some random good looking stranger you had met in McDonalds had helped you out and so far the two of you had only walked one in front of the other, so it felt nice walking next to him like this.

For the most part, the two of you kept silent on the walk to the subway. However when you had almost gotten there the silence had started weighing on you, and you felt extremely awkward. It was time to make an attempt at conversation. "So, um, the weather here is pretty nice." 'Idiot!' you yelled in your head 'is that the best thing you could come up with to say?! I can't believe how stupid you are!' you chided yourself. You really did feel stupid. That was one of the oldest and most cliche conversations you could possibly use.

He nodded "It is pretty nice I suppose. It's a little colder than usual."

"Oh." you said, unable to think of anything else to say.

You both remained silent until Kiku lead you down into a subway station, and you started waiting. "Ok, seriously, where are we going?"

He just smiled some and shook his head. You frowned. You were getting irritated and nervous now. He noticed your frown and gave you a sideways look. "It's a surprise."

"Hm." you said as the subway train arrived. You followed Kiku into it and sat down in a seat next to him and a woman reading a magazine.

"So, you live in Tokyo?"

He nodded "Most of the time, yes."  
"Ok, cool." you sat in silence for another minute. "So, when you're not in Tokyo where are you living?"

"On some weekends and holidays I live with my family in Shuzenji."

"You don't live with your family anymore then?"

"My family has a large apartment that they live in here sometimes, but they also pay for me to have my own one room apartment in the same building. The house in Shuzenji is just the house they prefer to live in most of the time because the scenery is nice and it's much bigger. So I suppose I really still live with them."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. How can your family afford two condos in Tokyo and a big house in uh, Shoezy... that other place?"

He looked down and kind of shrugged. You were about to pursue the matter further when a voice said something on the speaker and he stood. "This is our stop."

"Oh, alright." you stood and followed him out. You were a little dissapointed that you hadn't been able to pry whatever it was he hadn't told you out of him, but since you didn't have time right now you would settle for hoping you would have time before you left him today.

You walked along beside him silently, watching him out of the corner of your eye, studying every aspect of his handsome profile.

Right when you were getting back on the subject of his eyes he stopped. "Here we are."  
You turned to look at where you stopped and you furrowed your eyebrows. Why did he bring you here?

A/N Wow, thank you all for your reviews! They mean so very much to me, and they give me the inspiration to continue! Oh, and sorry, but don't get your hopes up for many updates this quickly. ^^;


	5. Not such a bad day after all

**Readers POV**

Since you couldn't read Japanese you had no idea what the store you were at was called, but by looking at the display in the front window it was clearly an electronics store.

"Why are we here?" you asked as he led you through the doors.

"We're going to get you a new camera."

"What? But... But I don't have enough money for that."

"You can worry about that later." he walked to a table that showcased many different brands of cameras.

You reluctantly followed him and watched as he examined them. It wasn't that you didn't want a new camera, and you probably could afford one. The problem was, if you wanted to buy much souvenir wise on this trip and get a new camera you would have to get a cheap camera, and you really didn't want a piece of junk you would have to replace with a more expensive one after you got home. The last thing you wanted was to waste your money.

You picked up a tiny pink camera that probably had horrible quality and didn't want to turn on, and examined it. It wasn't very good but at ¥6,753 (about 75 dollars) it was in your price range.

"This one is good." Kiku said in a final sounding voice. You looked at the camera he held in his hand. It was black and had the word Canon on the front. It looked like a high end camera, and you were a little afraid to look at the price. When you did you almost choked.

"54,015 yen ?!" you weren't sure exactly how much that was, but you didn't like having two numbers before the comma.

Kiku was already talking to an employee who had gotten out a set of keys and took a box with writing you didn't understand and a picture of the same camera that Kiku had been holding on it.

The employee carried the box to the counter, followed by Kiku. You chased after the latter of the two. "Kiku, I can't afford that!"

He turned to you and smiled"Don't worry about it." he turned back around and you realized you had already reached the counter.

'What am I going to do?' you panicked inside your head.

"Arigatou gozaimashita!" the cashier said and bowed slightly. Kiku did the same, picked up the camera box, and moved towards the door.

You followed, not really comprehending what had just happened. When you got outside you jumped in front of Kiku and held your hands up , palms forward, in front of you. "Wait, hold up a sec. Did you just do what I think you did?"

He looked at you, eyes slightly widened, probably surprised or confused. "I bought you a camera?" he said questioningly, as if he were on a game show or like it was a trick question or something.

"You did? Why did you do that?"

"Because you were sad." you stared at him dumbstruck.

"You're kidding right?"

"No."

"What are you expecting in return?" you frowned at him.

"Nothing."

"Are all Japanese people like this?" you didn't think that could be possible. After all, if it was that way people would constantly take advantage of the Japanese.

"No, not that I know of. Do you want to go back to your hotel?"

"Um, yeah sure." you said, still somewhat unsure that this whole thing wasn't just a dream.

"Ok, I'll take you back."

"Oh thanks! I think it would take me a few hours at least to find my way back, especially since its getting dark."

He smiled "Since I brought you out here it's only right that I take you back."

"Well, it's really gentlemanly of you, and unusual too, or at least where I come from."

He turned a very light shade of pink. It was so light you weren't entirely sure you weren't just imagining it. "Really it's nothing."

You shrugged. "Wether or not it's what you should do, it's nice of yo to do it." you smiled at him and he turned his face a little to the the side and you could've sworn his face was a darker shade of pink than it had been before.

"We should get going." Kiku said, beginning to walk through the growing crowd. You quickly caught up and began focusing on not getting swept away in the crowd.

**Japan's POV**

It had taken a little while to get on the subway since it was rush hour, but Kiku didn't really mind. His sister was planning on staying in his apartment that night, but at that moment she was probably out with her boyfriend so he had no reason to hurry home anyway.

He was sitting next to _ on the subway train when she suddenly looked at him. "How did you leave?"

"What?" he was entirely confused.

"I mean, at McDonalds. You were working, so how did you leave?"

"Oh." he said, it dawning on him what she had meant. "You were there so long my shift ended."

"Oh? What time was that?"

"Four."

"Really? I was there that long?"

He nodded "You were really upset."

"Yeah. Up to that point nothing had gone right."

He nodded as the train came to a stop. "We get off here." he informed her, standing up. She followed suit and they quickly got out of the subway and back onto the streets. By now, it was dark and the city lights lit up the streets and the people on it.

"Here we are." they stopped and Kiku smiled. "Sleep well, _."

"Mm." she said nodding "You too Kiku." she turned and began walking into the building "ha that rhymed!" he barely heard her say as she disappeared into the hotel.

**~short time skip~**

Kiku arrived at his apartment and pulled out his keys. After shuffling past the one to his parents houses and their different amenities, he came to the one to his apartment. Somehow it always seemed to be the last one he came to.

When he opened the door he was greeted by two teenage faces twisting towards him from their place on the floor facing his TV.

"Why are you so late?" Yuki (A/N this is Taiwan but because Mei doesn't sound Japanese I used her Japanese voice actor's name instead.), the youngest of his two younger sisters asked.

"I was doing something. I expected you would be out with your boyfriend so I didn't bother to hurry."

"I would've been if Kaoru hadn't decided to come along at the last minute. I told him there was no way the three of us would fit in your tiny apartment comfortably but he wouldn't listen."

"We've done it before but if your fat butt won't fit in here with me and Kiku I won't be surprised."

"Hey!" Yuki shouted, launching herself toward Kaoru.

"Don't do that!" Kiku gasped. He didn't like it when his family tried to fight each other physically (excluding when he was one of the sides) and always tried to stop them.

Kaoru smiled evilly "Then tell us what you were doing today." Yuki paused her attack at this and looked up at Kiku.

Kiku sighed. "Promise me you won't fight anymore while you're here if I do."

"I promise."

"Sure. Whatever." Kaoru sniffed.

"I bet you met a girl!" Yuki laughed. Kiku blushed. "No way! You actually did? I was just joking!"

Kiku told them what had happened as quickly as he could, revealing as little as he could.

"I can't believe it." Kaoru said.

"What can't you believe?" Kiku asked.

"That you, Mr. Totally and always politeness no crossing personal boundaries guy, actually went into the room of a girl you don't even know."

Kiku's eyes widened and his mouth opened slightly.

"Man, if it were me, I would've been sure you had some kind of evil intent." Yuki said.

Kiku flushed a little. The thought hadn't even crossed his mind. That must have been why she had been acting so skittish in her room.

A/N Hey look at this! It's been three days in a row! Since I have tomorrow off we might just have yet another chapter tomorrow night too!


	6. Picture Perfect

**Readers POV**

You walked down the street briskly and cheerfully. Today you were wearing a checkered button up shirt that was open in the front so that the white shirt you wore underneath it was visible, distressed blue jeans, and a pair of cowboy boots. You knew you looked out of place in the getup, but you didn't mind receiving extra glances today.

The entire day had been spent exploring Tokyo. Really you just went on a walk, got lost once or twice and bought a English-Japanese dictionary you had been lucky enough to spot in a shop. You really hadn't spent too much time getting lost though, because you slept until 10am after having an until-midnight-in-Japan-but-even-worse-in-America video chat with your best friend about everything that had happened with the two of you in the last week. She was especially excited to hear about that days events.

Now you were on your way to McDonalds to get an early dinner/late lunch. You had waited until shortly before four so that Kiku would be getting off. You were hopeful he might want to do something with you when he got off of work.

When you walked througH the door you were happy to see he was there. You ran up to the counter. "Hi Kiku!"

He smiled back, his cheeks only the slightest bit pink this time. "Hello. Are you better today?"

"Uh huh, much thank you."

His face reddened "I wanted to apologize for going into your room yesterday."'

"Oh, no problem. I was a little worried at first but since you didn't do anything I was fine."

"Good." he seemed genuinely relieved.

"So, since that is settled now, smile!" you said happily holding up your new camera.

He seemed surprised for just a moment, then smiled. You took the picture and examined it on the screen quickly before it went away. "Ah, you look good!" you said, then blushed ever so slightly. You hadn't quite meant to say it that way.

"So, did you want something?"

"You mean food?" he nodded.

"Um, well actually I was hoping since you get off work at four we could eat something real quick then you could show me around some of the more scenic places here in Tokyo. So I can, you know, take pictures and stuff. What good is a camera when there's nothing to take a picture of?" you smiled your best smile hoping it would be okay with him.

"Well, my younger brother and sister are visiting me," he started and your heart sank "but I suppose I can call them and tell them I'll be late getting home today." your heart lifted up again and you jumped up and squealed a little.

For the first (well, pretty much first) time since you came from Tokyo you would have someone doing something with you! It would be so much more fun this way.

"Thanks Kiku! This will be awesome! Oh, and for food I want the same thing I've been having and if you want something too go ahead and get it and I'll buy it for you. I mean, after all, its the least I can do since you bought me this camera yesterday."

"No, I couldn't let you do that."

You shrugged "If you insist I wont make you."

"I insist."

"Okay then." the two of you chatted a little about the weather while you waited for your food to finish. Once he gave it to you you smiled. "I'll go sit at that table over there and you can join me when you finish with work! I'll wait for you to start." Before he could object you grabbed your food and walked off to the table.

You played angry birds (A/N I used angry birds because it's so popular. I don't really like that game myself, but who really cares anyway?) on your IPhone until you heard someone slide into the seat across from you. You looked up and saw that today Kiku was wearing a grey long sleeved shirt and a red scarf with normal dark blue jeans and plain brown shoes. He had a chicken sandwich and a drink.

Every time you saw the fries here in Japan you felt as if your mind was blown. Was this really the same McDonalds they had back in the states? You started chewing on one of your french fries thoughtfully and smiled. "So do you have any idea what kind of place you would like to go to?"

"I was thinking maybe some sort of garden? I've been to some museums and stuff, but I would like to see what kind of gardens you have here."

"Garden? Hmm." He took a bite of his sandwich and furrowed his brow. "Okay, we'll go to Shinjuku Gyoen."

"Shinjuku Gyoen?"

"Yes, it's one of the best known and most beautiful gardens in Tokyo."

"Oh good! That means I can take lots of pictures!" You said excitedly.

He smiled and nodded.

**Japan's POV**

She had seemed very excited that he would go with her. Maybe she was just acting or something but he didn't really think she was.

After they finished Kiku and _ walked out onto the street. "I will call my little sister and tell her that I will be late, then we can get going."

"Okay!" _ said, rocking back and forth on her feet excitedly.

He took a few steps away from her and pulled out his cell phone. Within moments Yuki's voice was on the other end "Hi onii-chan."

"Hello Yuki."

"What do you need?" He shouldn't have been surprised she knew he was telling her something. After all he didn't call her much if he didn't need to tell her something or get something from her.

"Ah, I will be home late today."

"You will? Let met guess, you're with that girl again."

"Um, yes, I am."

"Ha! I knew it! You like her don't you?"

"She is an amiable person, yes."

"You know what I mean. Go talk to your girlfriend then! I'll see you around four tomorrow morning?"

"Of course not!"

"Goodbye~" she hung up. Why did teenage girls have to be so nosey? Scratch that, why did teenagers overall have to be so nosey?

"Are we good now?" _ was suddenly next to him.

He kept himself from jumping and smiled. "Yes, we can go now."

"Good!"

~time skip~

Shinjuku Gyoen seemed to be living up to it's reputation. The cherry trees were in bloom and the ponds were filled with their delicate blooms. _ had probably already taken a hundred pictures.

They were standing on an ornate bridge and _ was looking down into the water, her (h/c) hair blowing in the wind. Kiku had to admit she looked very beautiful. Suddenly she turned to him.

"Let's take a picture!"

"What?"

"You and me! Let's take our picture right here on this bridge! It's so pretty and peaceful here. Please Kiku?" she held her hands clasped together in front of her and gave him her best puppy dog eyes. He couldn't resist her sad (e/c) eyes for long.

"Alright."

For a little while they tried to take the picture with her or him holding it at arms length, but she was never pleased with how it turned out. She was chewing her lip and mulling over the problem when a middle aged man walked onto the bridge.

"Oh oh! Kiku, ask him to take a picture for us!"

He sighed. He wouldn't be able to stand her cute begging eyes again so he gave in without a fight. He walked to the man and they both bowed in greeting. "Anata wa watashitachi no tame ni shashinwotoru nodarou ka?" Kiku asked.

The man looked over at _ then smiled and nodded. "Hai."

Kiku looked at her and nodded. She smiled and ran over, handing the camera to the man.

Kiku and _ stood in front of the lake and smiled brightly for the camera, Kiku's arm resting on the rail behind _ .

_ smiled, satisfied. Now, no matter what happened, she would have a captured moment in time when she was happy to look back on and smile at. After all, it's not everyday you meet a handsome gentleman in a foreign country, and even rarer to become friends with him. Deep in your heart, something said that you wanted to be more than friends with this man, with Kiku Honda.

A/N Wow looky here! Four nights in a row! I'm on a roll! Anyway, I know there really isn't much to this one but it was getting long and I rrally wanted to update today. Review please! :D


	7. Park day

**Readers POV**

Just as the man rested his finger on the button, you decided that his eyes looked shifty. His clothing didn't look exactly high class either. At any rate you smiled your brightest smile as he snapped the picture.

Right as you and Kiku began moving back towards the man to get your camera back the man smiled and darted. Your mouth dropped open and you almost face palmed. Were thieves more common in Japan or was your luck really that bad?

You started running after the man at the same time as Kiku did, but he quickly overtook you. Since his legs were roughly the same length as yours you were somewhat surprised, but you just kept running. Within moments Kiku was several yards ahead of you and the thief was throwing worried glances over his shoulder at the speed demon behind him.

Suddenly, in a move that reminded you of tackles you had seen used in football (american football of course) games before, Kiku launched himself at the considerably larger man. Throwing all his weight into it, he slammed into the man's shoulders, both of them going down. Luckily the camera didn't hit the ground, cushioned by the man's hand which was still clutching it.

Kiku pulled his knees onto the man's back, pinning him down, and then his fingers slowly made their way up the man's neck until they rested on two points at the base of his skull. The man stopped squirming. Kiku then leaned forward and said something in a low voice that you couldn't hear clearly, and even if you could you knew you wouldn't understand it.

After that the man slowly opened his hand and Kiku took the camera out of it. "Arrigato." Kiku said in a cool voice, and he got up off the man's back and walked back to you smiling and holding out your camera. "I promise you, Japan isn't entirely filled with camera theives."

"Thank you Kiku!" You laughed, taking the camera from him. You made a mental note not to get on his bad side.

The two of you continued on your walk and you giggled a little. "So, that first move there, did you learn that in Judo or Karate?"

He laughed a little also "Taekwondo actually."

"Really?"

"No, not really, but I do know all three of those."

"You do?"

"Yes."

"Do you know any more?"

"I also know Kendo and Aikido.

"Whoa. That's a lot of martial arts. Are you any good?"

He looked down. "I... I am pretty high level."

"Like, a black belt or something?" He nodded.

"Wow! That is absolutely incredible!"

"It's nothing really." he was quickly turning a lovely shade of red.

"Nothing? Are you kidding me? You're like, better than Chuck Norris or Jackie Chan or something!"

He just smiled shyly and shook his head. Judging by the tomato color in his cheeks, he didn't seem to like being praised too much.

"You know, you don't have to be so modest. You should be proud of your skills."

"I am proud, but I don't see any reason to brag about my abilities."

"Nobody likes a braggart I guess. But still, I don't think anything you every say could come across as bragging."

He smiled at you again. "That's probably not true."

"Well, I haven't known you for very long, but I still can't imagine anything you say sounding like you're bragging." He just smiled and changed the subject.

~time skip~

It was getting dark in the park. The shadows of the cherry trees had almost disappeared but you couldn't bare to leave yet. A few employees had come out and set up traditional Japanese paper lanterns (A/N Okay, so, unlike the park itself which is real I don't think this is. I mean, I don't even know when that park closes. By the way, If you want to know what it looks like google it. It's really pretty.), which provided a soft light that was excellent for taking pictures. You had even convinced Kiku to pose for you several times. He was a great model.

Now the two of you had found a small bench nestled between two big pink trees with three or four lanterns hanging in them so that the atmosphere wasn't too dark.

"So, how big is your family?" Kiku asked.

"Well, I don't actually have any siblings, and my dad left my mom and me when I was twelve."

"Oh, I'm sorry about that."

You shrugged. "It's okay, I'm over it. He never really was that great anyway."

"But it still must have hurt."

"I guess so." You admitted. "So how about you? How many people are in your family?"

"Hmm." He said looking up at the sky, "There is my parents, my older brother, my four younger brothers and my two younger sisters."

"Wow. You have a huge family."

"There are quite a few of us."

"Do you mind me asking how your family could possibly afford so many children and two apartments in Tokyo and a house in um... somewhere else?"

"Shuzenji. I don't mind. My parents own a small but sucessful video game company."

"Really?"

"Yes. They have had it for more than twenty five years, but it only really started becoming known around fifteen years ago."

"Oh." you said, somewhat dumbstruck. You never would've guessed that. "Wait! If your parents are so rich, why are you working at McDonalds?"

"I have a full scholarship for bio-mechanics. My parents offered to pay for me to have my own apartment but I would have to pay for anything else I need, so I got a job."

"But, why McDonalds? I don't know about here in Japan, but in America, McDonalds is usually a place where people who have little or no education work."

"Well, I don't believe any job is underneath me, and as you know, you are prone to meet many interesting people."

"That makes sense."

"Do you have any plans for your future?"

"I'm... I'm working on it." you said, feeling ashamed. He was so obviously smart and talented and incredible in every way and you were so... not. "I'm not entirely sure what I want to do yet so right now I'm taking basic courses at a local college. I think I'm leaning towards graphic design or photography though."

"That's interesting. Just be careful that you don't pick a job you'll end up hating."

"Mm, yeah I know. That's the problem. I don't want to end up doing something I hate but I need to pick my major soon. I can barely afford the tuition as it is, and there is no way I'll take out a student loan. My mom did, and she still hasn't entirely payed it off. But between you and me, what I really want to do is see the world. I really want to see my own country too but so far the farthest I've gone from home -besides here- is a small theme park in the north of my state."

Kiku smiled and sighed up into the air "I would like to do the same. I have traveled a great deal in Japan, but I have never been to a foreign country."

A thought struck you and you almost said it out loud before you caught yourself. This was only your second day really knowing this guy and despite how much you liked him suggesting that you could travel the world together sounded stupid and nieve even to you.

"Where do you live?"

"Oh I just live in (city) (state). It's nothing special for most people, but I've lived there my whole life. (A/N If you don't live in America don't worry about it. Just make up a city and if you know a state pick one. Or if you don't want to make up or pick anything don't feel any pressure to, it's really not that important.)

"I'm sure it's very special," he paused for a moment and you could almost swear he was blushing again "if-if you live there." it was your turn to blush.

A cool breeze blew and you involuntarily shivered. "Are you cold?" He asked you.

"No." you said and shivered again.

He gave you a concerned look. "Yes you are. You should take better care of yourself." He stood up and you followed suit. "Here." He took off his red scarf and handed it to you. "It's not much but maybe it will help some."

"You didn't have to do that." you said, taking the scarf and wrapping it around your neck. It smelled slightly of a cologne. You took a discrete deep sniff and almost sighed. It smelled nice and reminded you of him. "Don't you need it?"

"No I'm fine. We should probably go now." he said, looking up at the bright, three quarter moon.

You sighed but nodded. "Yeah, I guess it's pretty late."

He nodded "Probably."

A/N Oh whoa this is just wierd. Five nights in a row! Anyway, to the guy/girl (your name is too long for me to remember right now. sorry) who guessed what was going to happen at the beginning of this chapter good for you! And if there is anything you guys want to see in this story tell me now and maybe I'll put it in there. :)


	8. Spys

**Readers POV**

Kiku had dropped you off at the door to your hotel room and you had just finished a hot shower. Hair wrapped in a towel and dressed in your favorite pjs you walked back out of the bathroom and went to pick up your dirty clothes to put them away. You were just about to dump them into the bag you had taken to put dirty clothes in when you noticed something and pulled it out of the wad. It was Kiku's red scarf.

"Oh, he forgot to get his scarf." you said out loud in the empty room. You took a deep breath of the scarf again and smiled to yourself, sitting the scarf on the table next to your bed.

You then crawled into bed and clicked on the tv, flipping channels for a while until it landed on some anime. You turned the volume down so that it was just a low drone, some noise to help you sleep. You didn't like telling people this but you never had been able to sleep alone without some sort of sound. Your mother knew this, as did a few of your friends (exboyfriend Alfred included), but she was the only person who knew the reason you were like this.

The bed was soft and warm when you curled up underneath the covers. An idea slowly began forming in your mind and you smiled at it. You rolled over and snatched up the scarf, then wrapped your arms around it and breathed in your new Asian friend's scent. 'I could smell this aroma forever and never get tired of it' You decided. Holding the scarf close, you closed your eyes and fell asleep.

**Taiwan and Hong Kong's POV**

"What is the point of staying here if onii-san is going to be out with his new American girlfriend every time he's off of work?" Yuki snorted, crossing her arms and leaning back. Kiku was in the shower so her and Kaoru had a small amount of time to talk without him hearing.

Kaoru shrugged. "I think it's cool. Kind of like living by ourselves. Besides, you didn't seem to mind while you were out with your boyfriend all day today."

Yuki rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up. But on to more important things," she said, shooting a glance at the bathroom. Kiku would probably be out soon. "if he goes out with her again tomorrow, we are following him."

"What? Why?" Kaoru said irritated. Spying and romance weren't really his thing, especially where his brother was concerned.

"Because! I didn't come here to spend my two weeks off of school sitting around his apartment playing games, watching TV and reading manga! If you don't go with me, I'll tell Kaa-san about that time you put graffiti all over the school wall."

"You don't have any proof about that." he crossed his arms and looked away.

"Maybe not, but you know as well as I do that mom would believe me."

His look turned into a glare and his nostrils flared. "Fine."

He'd barely finished speaking before Kiku walked out of the bathroom. Kaoru kept glaring at the wall while Yuki gave Kiku her best innocent smile.

Kiku frowned. "What are you doing?"

"Me? Oh, nothing." Yuki continued smiling and Kiku shook his head. His younger siblings were so strange some times. Scratch that, all of his siblings were usually strange.

**Readers POV**

It was morning. You had completed your morning routine and had put on a long sleeve plain black T-shirt and slid into some black jeans. You glanced over at the now folded scarf sitting on your nightstand and smiled. Maybe you would see him again today. Although, you would need to so you could give him his scarf back.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a knock on your door. 'No way.' you thought, and went to open it. It was Kiku. You were surprised and yet not. After all, he was the only person you knew in Japan.

Oh! Good morning Kiku!"

"Good morning _-san. I... I don't have any work today so I was wondering if you would like to go do something."

"Really? I would love to! Just let me put on my other shirt and finish putting on my shoes." Before he could say anything you ran to your bed and pulled the neon yellow shirt over your head, then sat down on the bed and pulled your pink tenni shoes on over your socked feet. On the way out the door you snatched up your neon yellow sunglasses and sat them on top of your lose (h/c) hair like a headband, to be pulled down when needed.

"Okay I'm ready now!" You said, going out the door into the hallway next to him. The two of you were walking down the hall when you suddenly remembered. "Wait! You forgot your scarf last night! Let me go get it."

You started to turn around but his voice stopped you. "No, it's okay you can keep it."

"Really? Is that okay?" There was no. freaking. way this could be happening. He was giving you his scarf!

"Of course it is alright."

"Thank you!" You wanted to hug him but restrained yourself.

"It's nothing." he said quietly, and you continued your walk to the elevator.

**~time skip~**

"Oh wow! It kind of looks like the Eiffel tower! But red and white." You looked up at the Tokyo Tower where Kiku had decided to take you.

"I suppose so. Do you want to go up?"

"Can we?"

"Yes. There is an observation deck."

"Cool! What are we waiting for? Let's go!"

**Taiwan and Hong Kong's POV**

"Oh great. They're going up!" Yuki huffed.

"So?"

"So?! If they go up it'll be a lot harder to keep them from seeing us!"

"So let's not go. We can do something else."

"No, no, no. We are going to keep following them if it kills us!"

"If he sees us that will probably happen."

"Yeah yeah, now let's see..." she mused, watching _ and Kiku go into the elevator. "We'll have to wait for the next one or he'll see us for sure."

After that elevator left they waited and finally their turn to go up came. Yuki stamped her foot impatiently in the slow moving elevator. "By the time we get up there they'll be leaving!"

"This thing isn't that slow Yuki."

She huffed and was about to cross her arms when the elevator stopped "Finally!" she said. After several seconds the door finally slid open and Yuki practically flew out.

"Where are they?!" she suddenly felt a hand slap over her mouth.

"Be quiet! We're supposed to be spying on them! If you shout they'll hear you!" Kaoru hissed in her ear then released her.

Yuki gave him a sheepish look. "Sorry."

"They're over there." he pointed towards the window to where _ and Kiku was. _ had her face pressed up against the window and was looking at the city in awe.

**Readers POV**

"It's so high! This is the highest I've ever been not counting the airplane."

"There is a higher tower here. We could go there sometime if you wish."

"Really? We should some time..." you trailed off. What he just said... It implied he wanted to spend more time with you! You tried your best not to get your hopes up and smiled to yourself.

You backed a little away from the window so that you were standing right next to Kiku. "It's really beautiful at night." Kiku said quietly.

You gave him an inquisitive look and he continued. "There are so many lights it seems like stars, and the cars are shooting stars or comets. You can't see real stars here so I like to come up here and look at the city lights."

Something about the way he said that made your heart melt. Maybe it was the soft tone in his voice or just the fact you were learning things about him. No matter what the reason, you loved the feeling.

After you had been waiting for a while Kiku looked at you. "Do you want to go somewhere else?"

"Sure." You said, smiling your best smile.

**~Time skip!~**

You had spent the entire day with Kiku going through a huge art museum. In truth you had already visited this place once and on that go around you found it very boring. You couldn't understand the captions underneath and you got lost more than once, so you finally left. Today was completely different. Kiku seemed to know exactly where he was going, and he talked to you about all the pieces of art. You could listen to him talk all day.

Kiku was telling you about one of the many pieces of art when a noise down the hall caught your attention. Kiku didn't seem to notice it, but you looked all the same. There were two teenagers down the hall right next to the corner. A girl in a pink shirt and a white skirt was sprawled out on the floor and a boy in a red shirt and black pants was trying to drag her back up and into the adjoining hallway. It looked almost as if they had been leaning around the corner and she lost her balance.

Suddenly the boy's eyes met yours and he froze. He looked oddly familiar. The girl turned to look up at him and it looked like she said something. He nodded in your direction and she looked at you too. Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped.

They both stood/lay frozen like statues as you watched them. And then the spell broke and they began frantically scrambling to get around the corner.

You giggled and noticed that Kiku was now looking in that direction too. "What was that?"

"Two kids that were acting weird." You said still snickering.

He shrugged, looking confused. "Ok."


	9. Dinner and the first move

**Readers POV**

After your day at the art museum Kiku took you out to dinner. The restaurant looked to you like a traditional Japanese type place, but due to your lack of knowledge of things Japanese you weren't entirely sure. (A/N Ok, since I have no idea whatsoever about how Japanese restaurants are owned I am just going to pretend it's pretty much like American ones.)

When you got menus you were extremely pleased to see that many of the dishes had pictures next to them. "Oh good!" you exclaimed.

"What is it?"

"There are pictures on this menu! So I don't have to ask you for translations of everything. Not that I have a problem with that."

He smiled. "I've been here several times and I remembered that there were pictures on the menu. I thought that you might like to not feel entirely helpless."

He was pretty quick to figure you out it seemed. "Thank you, for everything." You smiled your best smile.

He blushed and looked down. "It was nothing really."

You became distracted when a waiter arrived to take your order. Kiku said something or another to him, but you didn't hear what since you were frantically searching for something you wanted to eat before it was your turn to order. The man turned to face you with a questioning look and you pointed to the first thing you saw. He smiled and nodded, wrote something down and then walked off. You then nervously looked down at what you had pointed at. To your relief it looked like plain sushi. You could do that.

Kiku was giving you an amused smile so you gave him a mock scowl. "What's so funny?"

His expression quickly changed to confused and a tad bit upset. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you." He bowed his head slightly.

You were astonished for a moment then giggled a little "No, no, I was just kidding around. I wasn't actually upset."

He looked relieved. You were tempted to giggle again.

**Japan's POV**

When our food arrived things started like normal. Kiku opened his chopsticks and began eating his rice. After a few moments he noticed _ looking at him, almost as if she was in awe.

He cocked his head to the side "Is anything wrong?"

"Hmm? Oh no! Not at all... It's just, you know, I could never figure out how you guys can eat with chopsticks like that."

He went ahead and assumed that she meant Japanese, or possibly just Asian overall, by "you guys."

"It's really not hard." he said, holding up his chopsticks which currently had rice held in them.

"Ok." she said dubiously. She then opened hers and began attempting to pick up one of her pieces of sushi with them. After struggling for a minute she managed to pick it up.

He watched, doing his best not to be amused while she quickly moved her hand over the small bowl of soy sauce. She went to dip it in and promptly dropped it into the bowl.

Kiku bit his lip to hold in a laugh, but couldn't stop his smile. _ frowned down at the soy soaked sushi roll. "This is hopeless. I'm never going to be able to figure this out!"

"Look at how I'm holding it." Kiku suggested, holding his hand out for her to see.

After studying it for a moment she tried it again, with even less success than the previous time. She dropped the chopsticks and slumped back into her chair.

"Here, let me show you." Kiku said leaning forward and picking up _'s hand. He then picked up the chopsticks and placed them in her hand. "Hold it steady. Be sure to put pressure on it but not too much." he said.

His eyes came up to meet hers. They were wide and staring right at him. He stared back for a minute until he realized he was holding her hand between his.

Instantly he blushed and withdrew his hand. She smiled, a slight pink color evident in her cheeks as well.

**Readers POV**

After dinner Kiku began walking me to my temporary home again. Looking back over this day it was probably the best one you had had in Tokyo yet!

"Um, _?" Kiku asked you quietly.

"Yes?" you asked turning to him. You could have been imagining it, but it kind of looked like he was blushing again.

"Would... Would you mind if I held your hand?"

You almost gasped in surprise and pleasure. "Yes." you managed to squeak out.

His warm hand slowly worked its way into yours, and within a few moments your fingers intertwined. You walked all the way back to your hotel like that. Neither of you said more than a few words the entire time, but you didn't need to. This was definitely the best day you'd had in a long time.

A/N Okay, so I know it's shortnut at least it's sweet right? I'm just glad managed toupdate at all today. I had to work in my garden all morning and I was working on the website for my micronation all afternoon. Yeah, that's right, I have my own micronation! :D anyone want to apply for citizenship? :D?


	10. Familiar song

**Readers POV**

It had been a week since the day you and Kiku had had what you liked to think of as your first official date. Since that day Kiku had spent a lot of time with you. On the days he worked he would take you out to dinner or something, and on the days he didn't have to work he would spend the entire day with you, showing you a lot of the best points of Tokyo.

You were beginning to wonder how you were going to be able to go back to America. Your relationship with Kiku was still undefined, and you hadn't yet done anything beyond holding hands, although he had stopped asking permission to do so. Even though all you had done so far was hold hands you weren't worried that he didn't feel the same way you did. Of course there was a certain amount of uncertainty but you could almost see your relationship becoming closer.

Today, Kiku didn't have to work so he was taking you shopping around the city. So far you had only bought a small box and a kimono. He had bought you a hair pin.

You were walking down the street holding hands and you were holding a bag full of your new stuff in your other hand.

"Hey, lets go in there!" You said, pointing towards a shop that was displaying pianos.

"Ok." Kiku nodded and the two of you headed in that direction.

Once you were inside the shop you saw that your first impression was right. There were pianos everywhere; big ones, small ones, baby grands, uprights, this place had them all.

You couldn't play the piano but they were fun to look at. You sat down and pressed a key, a song slowly coming to mind. You began stumbling for the next note in the tune and finally found it. You made a mental note of it and continued the same pattern looking for the next one.

Kiku watched you with a confused look on his face for a moment before finally speaking up. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, just trying to figure out a song."

"Would you like some help?"

"You can play the piano?" You really didn't want him to know what you were trying to play. Not only was the little love song embarrassing, but you also didn't want him to know you were playing (or trying to play) a love song at all.

"Yes."

"Are you any good?"

"I am average I suppose."

You had almost figured out the entire beginning of the song when he spoke up again. "Are you sure you wouldn't like my help?"

You opened your mouth to say no when a salesman assaulted the two of you. He began speaking rapidly in Japanese and before Kiku could protest he was dragged off to a larger fancier piano. Perfect. Maybe you could finish figuring out the beginning and play it real quick.

After a few more minutes you decided to just go ahead and play what you had already figured out. You began playing the soft little tune and hummed along with it, not realizing Kiku had come back.

**Japan's POV**

When Kiku finally managed to disentangle himself from the overly enthusiastic employ he began walking back towards _, who was still playing the piano one-finger-style, but faster and more surely than she had been before.

As he approached he heard her humming along with the tune and he would almost swear he had heard it somewhere before. He stood still and breathed in and out slowly, hoping that she would not notice him, since he felt if she did notice she would stop.

He liked to hear her hum. It was a nice, melodic sound. Just as he began to think he could listen to it forever both the one note piano song and the humming stopped.

"That sounded nice." He said quietly.

_ jumped and turned to look at him, her eyes wide. "I didn't realize you had come back!" she exclaimed, her hand over her heart.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"That's okay." She swallowed and stood. "Ready to go now?"

"Yes." he said and nodded. He decided to keep the tune in the back of his mind and try to find out what it was later.

**~time skip~**

Kiku unlocked the door to his apartment, stepped inside, shut the door, and locked it. When he turned around he was faced with a teenage girl spread across his floor with coloring pages and the tv was playing a movie he remembered from when he was small.

Her head lifted up to look at him and she smiled. "Oh, hello onii-san. How was your date-I mean day?"

Kiku looked at her for a minute. "It was nice." he looked around. "Where's Kaoru?"

"Hmm? Oh, he didn't want to dive into nostalgia with me and Sakiko (A/N I'm using this name for Vietnam. I don't know if she actually has a human name or not and I'm too lazy to try and find out right now. If anyone knows you can tell me.) so he went to one of his buddies house. He should be back soon though since Sakiko had to go." she rolled off of her stomach and clicked the tv off.

Yuki stood and stretched and gathered her things, shoving them back into her backpack, then walked over to her older brother. After giving him a hug she walked towards his tiny kitchen area. "You want me to make you some tea or something?"

"Hai, that would be nice." he sighed and sat down in the one chair in the room. He still had a project he needed to get finished for college before the break was over, and he was only roughly halfway finished with it.

"Okay then!" she said happily, beginning to prepare the tea. Somewhere during the time she started this and the time Kiku began his work she began humming. After a moment Kiku heard her and almost fell out of his seat. It was the same song _ had been humming and attempting to play. This had to be fate. There was no way this could be a coincidence.

"Wh-what is that song?"

"Huh? What song?" Yuki turned her head to look at him.

"The one you were humming."

"Oh that. Nothing really, just an old song from some girly American kids movie that we have. Translated of course."

"Show me."

"What?"

"Show me that song." a plan had begun to formulate in his mind, and he was determined to carry it out.

A/N Sorry for the shortness but I was busy. But hey, I'm on a roll here! XD Anyway, to those of you who expressed interest in joining my micronation go to this website and follow the instructions there: : / / kingdom of greater new prussia dot webs dot com / Minus the spaces. :) and put the typical aych tee tee pee in there, and the colon. (it won't let me put those letters next to each other. :/)


	11. Song

**Japan's POV**

It had taken some effort, but after a week he could play that song on the piano with no mistakes. It's a good thing he knew how to play by ear, because he hadn't been able to find sheet music for it.

Now, he was bringing _ into his parents apartment where his piano resided. It wasn't like he had enough room for it in his apartment after all.

"Where are we?" _ asked as they stopped at a door.

"This is my parents apartment. I don't have enough room for all of my things in mine so much of it is still here."

"Oh. But why are we here?"

He was about to open his mouth to answer when the door flew open. Yuki stood at the door smiling at them. "Hello onii-san." she smiled.

"Hello nee-chan. This is _-san."

A sly smile spread across her face and she bowed. "Nice to meet you _-san."

"_-san this is my little sister Yuki."

"Hi Yuki!" _ gave a little wave.

Yuki's eyes widened for a moment and then the grin came back into place.

**Reader's POV**

Yuki was a bit shorter than you and had long black hair. She also looked kind of familiar. "Hey, have I seen you somewhere before?"

"Um, don't think so. I have to go, sayonara!" she said quickly, darting down the hall.

"Oh wait! Now I know where I saw her before! She was one of those weird teenagers that day at the art museum!"

Kiku's mouth dropped open and a look of realization crossed his face, rapidly changing into irritation as he glared at his sisters quickly vanishing form.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing." Kiku said, shaking his head and walking into the apartment. You followed him.

The room you walked into looked like a living room of sorts. There was a decent sized TV and a couch plus a few chairs facing it. Behind that there was a screen door, and next to a huge window that overlooked a little chunk of the lit up Tokyo there was a nice, black, baby grand piano.

Kiku walked over to it and looked at you expectantly. You practically ran over to the piano almost dying of curiosity.

"Last week when we went to the piano store, I heard you trying to play a song." He started. You nodded trying to hide your growing embarrassment. You hadn't wanted him to hear you, much less figure out what you were humming.

He sat down and placed his fingers lightly on the keys. "Is this it?" he asked and began playing.

Before he'd even finished the introduction you knew what he was playing. It was "If you love me for me" the song you had tried to play. You felt your face becoming a red color and hoped he didn't look at you any time soon. Naturally he glanced at you right then. You nodded.

He paused for a moment. "Do you know the words?"

You nodded again. You didn't really want to sing; you didn't like your voice, not to mention the song itself would be embarrassing. But... if he wanted to hear you sing you would. "Did you want me to...?" you asked quietly, trailing off a little at the end. He smiled and nodded.

He started playing again and when he finished the introduction you took a shaky breath and began.

"Once a lass met a lad, you're a gentle one said she,

In my heart I'd be glad, if you loved me for me

You say your love is true, and I hope that it will be" you sang, getting slightly louder and more confident as you sang. It always felt better once you got started.

"Itsumari no nai, kimochi misete" Kiku sang the male part in Japanese. His voice was soft and smooth, and perfect for this song.

"Could I be the one you're seeking, will I be the one you choose,

Can you tell me heart is speaking, my eyes will give you clues"

"Shinjiru no sugata wa, me ni mieru no mono"

"Hope will blossom by believing, the heart that lies within"

"kibō wo mō yobu" he sang at the same time as you sang the last part of the preceding line.

"Kimi to futari sodatette yukō wo, towa no ai yo" You loved listening to him sing. It was beautiful, even if you couldn't understand it.

"Who can say where we'll go, who can promise what we'll be," you sang.

"Kimi to futari sodatette" he sang this at the same time, your voices blending together in a lovely melody.

"but I'll stay by your side, if you love me for me,"

"yuko wo, towa no ai yo."

"if you love me for me."

"Towa no ai yo."

"You have a lovely voice." he said quietly. You looked at his face closely and detected a shade of red similar to the one on your face.

"It's not that good. But yours is incredible!" before you could get much more embarrassed something moving caught your eye and you almost squealed in delight.

You ran over to the small black and white bundle of fur and slid down onto your knees. "He's so cute!" you exclaimed, petting the cats side as he rubbed up against you.

Kiku smiled. "He is one of the things I had to leave here."

"What's his name?"

He looked down ever so slightly "Neko."

"Neko? What does that mean?"

"Cat."

"Your cats name is cat?"

"Yes. He seems to like you."

"I guess so." you said, getting back to your feet slowly. "So you play the piano?" That was a stupid question. He'd just played a whole song! Wow, you must really have been out of it.

"Yes, I do."

"Oh um, would you play some more?"

He nodded "What would you like to hear?"

"I don't care. Anything is fine."

So, you spent an hour or two listening to Kiku playing different songs on the piano. While you were listening you sat down on the floor so Neko could crawl up into your lap. Within a short amount of time his quiet purrs had faded and he was soundly asleep.

Kiku's piano playing was very tranquil and beautiful. You weren't sure when, but at some point, while leaning up against the piano leg, you began to nod off, and shortly later you were sound asleep.

**Japan's POV**

After quite a while of playing Kiku decided _ was probably bored of listening to him. At any rate she hadn't said anything for several songs.

"_-san?" He called quietly. No one answered. He slid off of the piano stool and walked over to look for her. It took him a minute to notice _ propped up against one of the piano's legs with Neko in her lap, blinking up at him.

She looked so nice asleep. Innocent, pure, sweet, trusting. He kneeled down in front of her and after a moment of hesitation he placed his hand gently on her shoulder. The slight added weight caused her head to fall to the side. It seemed she was very asleep. He didn't want to wake her up... His family -excepting two irritating, spying, teenagers- were at the other house, the one in Shuzenji. He could probably pull it off without anyone's knowledge since the two rats had decided to spend that night with Sakiko.

With a slight nudge of his hand, Neko was inclined to move out of his warm spot, stretch, and give Kiku a slight glare before yawning. Kiku slid his arm gently behind _'s shoulders and the other one under her knees and lifted her carefully off of the floor. She wasn't very heavy and though he probably wouldn't admit it, he liked the way it felt to hold her.

Moving as quietly as a ninja he slid open the screen door and walked down the hallway. Even without a light it was easy for him to find the room he was looking for and he slid that screen door open as quietly as he had the first one. He carefully laid her down on the futon in the room and smiled down at her peaceful form. "Goodnight... _." he whispered.

A/N Here you guys go! This is the last update you can expect until at least next Tuesday. I'm going on a cruise and we leave tomorrow morning so I will have no Internet for a bit. Four days is a pretty short cruise, but hey, Im just glad to be going!

PS Everyone has seen Barbie Princess and the Pauper right? Do we have any Death Note fans here? If you are, you should find it interesting that Julian and L have the same English voice. L actually has an excellent singing voice.


	12. Breakfast

**12 Readers POV**

There was something on your stomach. Something semi heavy. You cracked your eyes open, blinking and squinting at the bright morning light. When your eyes adjusted enough for you to look around you sat straight up, making whatever it was on your stomach tumble down. This wasn't your hotel room. Your hotel room didn't have that window or those color walls, or screen doors, or such a low bed.

You looked down and saw an angry cat glaring at you. Slowly your confusion and fear melted away and your heart returned to its normal pace. You were at Kiku's parents apartment. Last night you had fallen asleep listening to him play the piano. He must have decided not to wake you up.

Neko kept glaring at you so you reached out one hand and scratched his cheek absentmindedly. He instantly started purring and leaned into your touch. "Oh you like that huh?" you laughed lightly at the happy little cat. Suddenly his ears parked up and he trotted out of the small open space in the screen doors.

"Where are you going Neko?" You pushed the covers back and stood up, briefly noting you hadn't changed clothes last night and slid quietly out through the screen door. Outside of that room there was a hallway, lit up slightly by a window at the backend. Neko was disappearing around a corner at the end of the hall as you tiptoed towards him quickly.

When you emerged you found yourself back in the living room you had fallen asleep in the night before. The piano was shut now, and the room was thoroughly lit with natural light. Kiku wasn't anywhere in sight but Neko was disapearing through a crack in another screen door that you hadn't noticed the night before.

You ran after him and slid through the crack yourself. The room you had stepped into seemed to be a kitchen. There were strange smells in the room that smelled pretty good and there was a small table with three chairs around it. Finally your eyes landed on Kiku. He was already dressed and seemed to be cooking something. That had to be the source of the smells. Neko was sitting next to him looking up expectantly, tail swinging back and forth lazily.

"Ah, ohayo Neko-chan." Kiku smiled down at the cat then kneeled down with a plate of what looked like chunks of tuna. You weren't sure since you didn't deal with raw tuna much, but thats what it looked like to you.

Neko started eating immediately and Kiku went back to cooking. You walked slowly over to him. "Um, good morning." You said quietly.

He turned his head and smiled brightly at you. "Ohayo gozaimasu _-san. Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah." you nodded and decided to assume that that meant something along the lines of good morning.

"That is good."

"I guess." you looked at the already finished food and almost fell over. How could he have made so much? He must have been up for at least an hour already! And judging by the light it wasn't much later than seven!"

"What... what is it?"

"It's called choshoku." (A/N so according to the internet choshoku is a traditional Japanese breakfast, and looking at the pictures and list of foods in it it seems pretty big to me. If anyone knows more about it or I'm wrong about anything please go ahead and tell me so I can fix it. )

"Choshoku. Ok. It looks good."

"It's almost finished. You can sit down at the table if you like."

"Ok." you said, and went to sit at the surprisingly western style table. You didn't know what Japanese furniture typically looked like, but to you, most of the furniture in Kiku's parent's apartment looked western.

A few minutes later Kiku walked several different plates to the table. "Ok, so tell me what all of these are. Please?" you thought to add at the last minute.

He smiled began pointing as he spoke "This is miso soup, grilled salmon, rice, mori, and tsukemono."

"Wow it looks good!" you said happily, picking up the chopsticks he had given you.

"Itadaki-masu!" Kiku said, and began to eat as well.

**Japan's POV**

It had been a very nice and relaxing sort of day. He and _ had spent the entire day in his parents house watching tv with him translating. It had been difficult for him to translate television and he was pretty certain he had said strange things at times, at least the times she giggled when what was happening was entirely serious. She hadn't seemed to mind though. When she had finally left it was reluctantly. Yes, it had been a very nice day indeed.

Neko purred gently as Kiku rubbed his hand over the cat's soft fur. "What do you think of her?" he asked the small, happy cat.

Of course Neko did not respond, he only continued to look up at Kiku and purr contentedly. Kiku sighed and looked out of the window. It seemed he was really starting to fall for her.

**Readers POV**

You had just finished a (much needed) shower and were now spread out over your bed. You were just about to get up so you could get in your bed when (f/s) erupted from your cell phone alerting you to a call.

"Hello~?" you said into the phone.

"Hey _!"

"Hey Al! Been a while since I've heard from you!"

"Yeah, I've been meaning to call, but you know, life gets in the way. How have you been? You sound a lot better than the last time we talked."

Had it really been three weeks since you had talked with him? After meeting Kiku time had really started to fly. You unintentionally giggled a bit. "I've been good."

"Good huh?" he had a suspicious sound in his voice. He laughed. "Good for you then!"

You smiled and nodded even though he couldn't see you. "So, how are the plans for your wedding coming?"

"Well, first we decided to change the date."

"What really?"

"Yep. It's going to be three months from now instead of four."

"Why?"

"Something to do with her mother or one of her brothers or something. I'm not really sure I kinda zoned out a little, I'm only for sure that we had to move the date up a month."

That was Alfred alright. You snickered a little. "What?" he said.

"Oh, nothing. Tell Alice I said hi!"

"Okay I will. Call me when you get back!"

"Alright, bye."

"Bye!" he hung up.

You slid under the covers, snuggling happily. Alfred clearly had an idea that something more was going on with you. He was smart enough though, not to try and figure out what. You could be pretty tight lipped when you wanted to.

A/N

So here's the next update! Sorry it took so long, and sorry it's not really anything. It's really just fluff but next time parts are going to be serious. We are getting towards the end now.a

Notes about my cruise if anyone is interested:

1. The first day when we got on we went to the Lido deck (that's where the food is, excluding the restaurants), and there was Ialian food that day. When I saw that the first thing I did (naturally) was to throw my hand up and yell PAAAAASSSSSTTTTAAAA! I got lots of weird looks.

2. One of the ships photographers I met was named Tex. He was from England. Thanks to him I've joined the hoard of girls who think that certain guys with English accents are extra cute.

3. I took a special Super Bowl photo.

4. My family and about three or four others sang old hymns for a few hours on Sunday morning. At one point we had quite an audience, and for the rest of the day people kept comming and telling us how good we sounded. I know most of y'all probably aren't Christians, but to me that was a lot of fun.

5. If you ever go to Mexico watch out for these things in stores: coffee cups shaped and colored like naked boobs complete with nipples, and butt cups too, postcards with naked people on them, pens that have little clay people with big boobs (like Ukraine sized) and big balls sometimes having sex, and other such *lovely* items.

Anyway, I had a really nice time.


	13. Betrayed

**13 Readers POV**

You were feeling a tad bit melancholy. You would be leaving Tokyotonightand heading back to the USA and your old life of work, study, eat, study, work, work and sleep. Not the most exciting life ever and you didn't even have a boyfriend back there anymore. Although you were now thoroughly over Alfred. He was a great guy, but he wasn't your guy. He was your friend. Your best friend. A sweet lovable puppy dog. But not your man. If anyone was for you it was Kiku. He was the best guy you'd ever met you'd decided.

You were heading to a little tiny park you had found early on in your trip, one of the few places you had been to without Kiku. There were only a handful of trees and a tiny little pond with a cute little bridge over it. It really was just a tiny green dot in the mass of buildings known as Tokyo.

There were a few people around; one young man sitting next to a tree with a laptop in his lap, three girls sitting on the only bench laughing together, a young couple on the bridge- wait! You took a closer look. That guy... it was Kiku!

You froze completely and watched. Kiku and some girl with long black hair pulled back in a low pony tail, and wearing a green blouse and white pants were standing on the bridge facing each other. You couldn't see the look on he girls face because she was turned in the other direction but Kiku had a caring look on his face.

You felt confused and somewhat betrayed. You tried to tell yourself it was nothing. You quickly slid behind a tree so that he wouldn't see you and kept your eyes glued to the scene unfolding before you. For a while it looked like they were just talking and then... He hugged her! He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and held her close.

That was all you could take. You didn't want to see any more of this. You turned and ran out of the park as quickly as you could. It wasn't hard to run through the uncrowded park but running through the crowded streets took a bit more skill. Finally you reached you hotel and ran up the stairs, not bothering to take the elevator.

When you finally reached your room and began struggling with the door, you noticed you were crying. Now that you had stopped moving it was getting worse too. You felt so pathetic. On the upside though, you were glad you had to leavetonightnow. After seeing Kiku with another girl like that you didn't think you could chance seeing him again. It would make you too upset.

Finally you managed to get the door open and burst inside, slamming it behind you. Maybe it wasn't anything. Maybe she was just a friend or something... but he hugged her. He hadn't gone any farther with you than holding your hand. Everything you knew about him said that he wouldn't just hug an ordinary friend, at least not if that friend was a girl. It might be different if it had been a guy, or if she was the one that hugged him, but he had hugged her with no visible reason. He hadn't even said anything first which meant that he hadn't asked her permission like he did for holding your hand. That obviously meant that he was closer to her than he was to you, a lot closer.

You dropped into a chair and held your face in your hands, trying not to choke on your sobs. Why did bad things always have to happen to you?

~time skip~

You attempted to wipe your eyes. You weren't sure how long you'd been crying but at any rate you needed to straighten up and start packing. Missing the plane would just be the icing on the cake for you.

You went to the bathroom and checked your face in the mirror. You looked like a monster. Your eyes and nose were red and swollen and your face was streaked with tears. Your (h/c) hair was mussed up and just added to the look of total despair that came about with your face. You were glad you hadn't wore mascara this morning at least. But in an odd way, looking on the outside what you felt on the inside gave you a tiny bit of satisfaction.

The water was cold when you turned it on, which was better for taking down the swelling in your eyes anyway. The toilet paper felt rough on your nose when you blew it. You supposed you could have used the tissue paper in there but you hadn't noticed it at first and felt no inclination to bother now.

You had halfway packed that morning and your plane would be taking offat six pm. You needed to finish getting all of your things together.

**~time skip~**

The airport was crowded, not that you were surprised. That seemed to be the normal state for airports, or at least in your experience.

In the end you had decided not to say goodbye to Kiku. You didn't really know if you could stand it right now. You should have known someone like Kiku couldn't ever like someone like you. But it still didn't seem fair. Why did you always have such bad luck? Maybe it was just never meant for you to have a significant other.

You were standing in a slow moving boarding line, and you were extremely happy you had already gotten through the security check. There were people in front of you and behind you who knew nothing of what had happened to you here in Tokyo. That was so strange to you. You knew that even though it seemed earth shatteringly important to you, these people had no idea, and even if they did they wouldn't care in the least. What seemed even more ridiculous to you was that there were hundreds if not millions of people out there just like you and you had absolutely no idea about them, nor did you care. Life is such a weird, twisted, convoluted thing.

When you finally got on the plane it was easy to find your seat. It was a window seat for which you were extremely grateful. A woman came and sat down next to you, glancing at you and nodding in greeting before taking out an IPad and beginning to do something or another on it.

The plane began taxying down the runway while you stared out the window, a tear sliding down your cheek. You did have regrets here. You would never come back to the biggest city in the world, and you would never see Kiku again.


	14. A plan

**Japan's POV**

Tap, tap.

Kiku's knuckles gently rapped on the hotel door. When _ didn't respond he knocked harder. Still no answer. He frowned. She never took this long to answer. He waited for a few minutes then tried again. There was still no answer so he thought that maybe she went out somewhere. Perhaps the employee at the desk would know.

After he got back down to the main floor he quickly walked towards the Mai desk. There was a short line so he stood in the back of it, feeling anxious and impatient but keeping a mostly stoic look on his face.

When his turn finally came he stepped up to the desk "Excuse me, but do you know if _ _ has gone out?"

The man pursed his lips and thought for a moment. "Oh yes! I remember her. She checked out."

Kiku was completely shocked. "What?"

The clerk nodded "Yeah, last night."

Kiku frowned and slowly left the desk. Had she gone home? Of course she did; where else could she have gone? But why? Why hadn't she told him? He didn't even have her phone number or email address. What would happen to make her just leave like that? Maybe there had been some sort of family emergency?

He sighed and walked out of the hotel slowly. She was gone so he might as well go home.

**America's POV**

Alfred stared grimly across the table at _ who was swirling a cup of her favorite Starbucks coffee around with a spoon. She looked seriously depressed. "Hey Dudette, did something happen while you were gone?"

She shook her head and sniffled some. Her eyes looked as if she had been crying and she was acting strange, so either it was that or it was something else. "No, nothing."

He was decently sure she was lying but moved on to the next possibility anyway. "Is your mom okay?"

"Yeah. She's glad I'm home."

"Everything good at school?" that one was a long shot. She hadn't been to school in a month. He hadn't either since the summer term started. Most people-or at least most of the people he knew- didn't take the summer semester. Making it kind of like a more difficult, not required, more flexible high school.

She gave him a strange look. "Of course everything is ok at school. How could it not be?"

He shrugged. "I dunno. Something has to be wrong so I'm just trying to figure out what."

"Nothing is wrong." she sighed.

"Yeah it is. I know you."

"You're not going to give up are you?" the absence of the usual upward pitch at the end made it seem more like a statement than a question.

"Nope!" he said, smiling cheerfully and leaning back.

She finally sighed dejectedly. "Okay, fine. I... I met this guy in Japan and I thought... I thought..." she bit her lip and looked down. "I thought we had something." she whispered, and started crying a little.

Alfred frowned and leaned forward. "Do you feel like telling me?"

She shook her head sadly. "I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok then, but if you ever do wanna talk, I'll be there."

**Readers POV**

**~a week later~**

You sat on the tiny couch in your somewhat shabby living room and stared at the picture you had laid on the coffee table in front of you. The TV was on but you weren't watching it. Actually you didn't even know what was playing. Instead you were being caught up in the memory the picture invoked.

It was the day at Shinjuku Gyoen, just before that guy stole your camera. You had looked so happy. He did too. Or maybe that was just your imagination. For the last three days you'd managed not to cry or think of Kiku too much, but now you couldn't stop the tears. It was going to be a long time before you got over Kiku.

You seriously needed some chocolate. You stood and made your way to the kitchen to try and dig some up.

**Kiku's POV**

This was it. The park where their first "official" date took place. It seemed a lot duller here today. The pinks looked almost gray, and the water looked as if someone had poured black dye in it. He knew it didn't actually look any different, that was just how it seemed to him.

He leaned against the rail of the bridge (yes, that bridge) and stared up into the sky. Unlike the last time he was here it was cloudy. They were big, heavy, gray clouds that seemed to weigh down on him like a brick balanced precariously on top of a ballon.

The weather decided to finish matching his mood and go ahead and rain. Drops hit him every now and then, creating dark splotches on his clothes and slipping down through his hair.

Finally, he decided he should probably leave. He did have some work from college to do after all, not that it really mattered anyway. After _ left he found-to his utter horror- that he was having trouble doing his school. He couldn't seem to concentrate at all, his mind continually drifting back to her. Why had she left? Scratch that, he knew why she left, she didn't live in Japan after all. The real question was why hadn't she told him? She hadn't even bothered to say goodbye! He didn't even know how he could get in touch with her. All he did know was that she lived in (city) (state).

He wasn't entirely sure when he had started walking again or when he had gotten out of the park. People were rushing to and fro past him trying to get out of the rain before they were soaked and not sparing the dripping young man a glance. He didn't mind being wet. What he did mind was the aching in his heart. The only time he'd ever felt that sort of ache before was when his older brother left for China to run a factory. It had taken a few months for the ache to go away then-though due to the brothers relationship it was a bitter sweet thing- but it hadn't affected him like this at all. Life had went on as normal. He helped to take care of his siblings and worked at his job and school without really having any problems. So why was it different this time?

He reached his apartment and opened the door, sloshing inside. "Onii-san you're back..." Yuki started enthusiastically but trailed off when she saw him.

"Oh my God," Kaoru said in a flat voice "what happened to you?"

"I was caught in the rain." Kiku said dully.

"No really?" Yuki snorted.

Kiku ignored the gawking and sarcastic teenagers and went to take a shower.

**~teeny weeny time skip~**

Kiku finished his shower, his hair was nice and clean as well as his body. The warm water did wonders for the way he felt physically. Too bad it didn't do the same for how he felt emotionally.

He'd barely come out of the bathroom when he was stopped by two of his younger siblings blocking his path with their arms crossed. One of them looked quite determined while the other looked slightly annoyed.

"Ok Kiku we've talked about it and finally made a decision."

"What?" he furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

"You need to make up." Yuki said, her nostrils flaring and her lips flattening into a thin line.

Again, what? "I don't-"

"Don't give me any of that! You've been acting really out of sorts lately and it has to stop!"

It wasn't that obvious. Was it? "I haven't been-"

"Yeah, you have." Kaoru finally joined in a little.

"Ever since you stopped going out on dates with your new girlfriend you've been acting like a kicked puppy! I can't take your gloomy presence any more!" Yuki glared at him, and he almost took a surprised step back at her fierceness. "I don't care if you have to fly halfway across the world, or dig a tunnel with a spoon all the way to Hong Kong, go make up with that girl! If you don't, I'll drag you to her by your ear!" Yuki seemed to be entirely unaware that this was exactly what he would have to do.

Kiku was extra surprised now. But slowly, as the shock began to ware off, he began to realize exactly what he was going to do, what he had to do.

A/N Thank you guys soooooo much for the reviews! This is my most popular story yet and it's thanks to y'all!

PS Happy belated birthday to Japan.


	15. America

**Japan's POV**

Kiku sighed when the yellow taxi cab finally showed up at the airport. He hadn't thought it would take so long. Ever since he decided to come to America a week before time had seemed to drag on anyway so maybe it didn't take as long as it seemed.

"Where you going buddy?"

"Um, (city)."

The guy started driving and looked at Kiku curiously in the mirror. "You're not from around here are you?"

"No, I live in Tokyo."

"Tokyo huh? I'd rearry rove to go there." he said and guffawed afterward. Kiku frowned at the mirror. "What, do you not rike that?" he cackled.

Kiku sighed. This was going to be a long ride.

**~time skip~**

After an agonizing hour and a half ride from the airport to (city) Kiku sighed in relief when they pulled up at the city limits. He quickly payed the small fortune he owed and made sure NOT to give a penny extra.

"Good ruck!" the annoying voice of the Taxi driver called out as Kiku shut the door. He gave the yellow car a glare as it drove away. That man was way too rude for his taste.

Kiku then turned and surveyed the city. It was a small city especially in comparison to Tokyo, but it wasn't that small. There were probably a couple thousand people living within it. He sighed. How in the world was he supposed to find _ here? He'd been hoping it was one of those tiny towns no one knows about that has a few hundred people living in them. Even then it would have been difficult to find her, but now... No, he wouldn't think about that. Ha hadn't even gotten started yet; he couldn't afford to become discouraged already.

**~time skip~**

Kiku walked into a big, blue and white building entitled Walmart. There was a huge crowd of people within the store. This reminded him of Tokyo. A lot smaller and inside a building, but hectic bustling about by many (probably hundreds) people with their own plan in mind who were not willing to wait a single second for Kiku to get out of their way. Luckily he was able to since he had lived a good amount of his life in a big city.

For probably the hundredth time that day he asked a man if he knew _. Like everyone else, he said he didn't and moved on. Kiku inwardly groaned and grabbed a passing woman. This was feeling more and more hopeless... But he couldn't give up! This was for _ after all. If he gave up now the "what if" haunting him the rest of his life would absolutely kill him.

**~time skip~**

Kiku had spent almost four hours in Walmart asking people if they knew _, or if her name even sounded familiar. He was feeling completely lost now.

The streets weren't that quiet (they were quieter in Shuzenji) but they weren't busy enough to give his mind something to distract it. He tried not to think the inevitable thoughts, but with nothing to keep him busy they came anyway. He wasn't going to be able to find her. He had been stupid and naive to think he could! The town, no, the city of (city) was small enough not to attract attention but big enough to make finding _ harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

He'd walked a good bit before he decided to stop at a park on the outskirts of town. The sun was setting. It seemed he had been searching all day. today was a complete waste. There was no sign of _ anywhere. It was like she had vanished into thin air.

Kiku saw a bench sitting next to the little path he'd been walking on and sat down on it. He slid his hands over his face despairingly. "Aitsu wa doko desu ka?" he whispered quietly.

"Hey dude, are you okay?"


	16. Alfred

**Japan's POV**

"Hey dude, are you okay?"

Kiku looked up and saw a blond haired man with a strange piece of hair sticking up and wearing glasses looking down at him. He had a somewhat concerned, interested look on his face.

Kiku straightened up and looked the man in the eye, intending to say yes. But, the guy looked as if he genuinely cared, and he looked so honest... He couldn't lie to this guy. "I...I don't know."

"Hmm, sounds like you've had it kinda rough huh." the guy sat down on the bench next to him and smiled, pushing up his glasses. "I'm Alfred. You wanna tell me what's wrong?"

Kiku sighed. "It won't help anything."

"Well, maybe not, but it won't hurt anything." Alfred cocked his head and smiled slightly.

Kiku sighed again. "A few weeks ago a girl came to where I worked. One day she seemed very upset so I talked to her and we began to do things together. Then one day she left. She didn't say goodbye or even let me know she was going to leave, she just disappeared. All I knew was that she lived here, so here I am. But it's hopeless. I've searched all day and it's become obvious to me that it is impossible to find her in a situation like this."

Kiku finally looked up and saw Alfred was giving him a very strange look. "What?"

"You wouldn't happen to be from Tokyo would you?"

Kiku gave Alfred a surprised and somewhat confused look. "Yes, how did you know?"

Ignoring Kiku's question Alfred continued "This girl... Was her name _ by any chance?"

Kiku's mouth opened slightly and his eyebrows rose. No way. He knew her? And he knew about the two of them? His depression began to morph into excitement. This was definitely fate. "Yes! Do you know her?"

A smile spread across Alfred's face. "Yeah I do! You wanna go see her?"

"Yes, if you could take me I'd be grateful."

"Hey no prob! Follow me dude!" Alfred jumped up and began walking very quickly down the path, with Kiku trailing after him.

In the small parking lot outside the park there was one car. It was a red convertible with a white stripe down the middle with a skinny blue stripe in the middle of that. Alfred walked straight to it and jumped over the door and sat in the seat. Kiku stared at him.

"Come on, get in." Alfred encouraged.

Kiku reached for the door handle. "The doors don't open." Alfred stopped him "You'll have to jump over."

Kiku looked at him, mentally shrugged, and put his hands on the door, gracefully throwing his legs over and landing in the seat.

Alfred smiled and revved up the engine, making the car vibrate with power. The blond man laughed like a maniac as he pushed down on the gas peddle. Kiku gripped the seat for dear life as Alfred flew around back roads.

"I think if you're going to spend a lot of money on a car you should go all out! And if you have a powerful engine you shouldn't waste it! That's what back roads are for! At this time of day no one is on them so I usually take her out for a thrill spin! I haven't gotten a ticket yet!" Alfred yelled to Kiku as they zoomed past an abandoned looking building.

"W-wouldn't it be faster to go through the city?!" Kiku squeak-yelled.

"Nah! Right now is rush hour! It'd take a hour to get sat one stop light! Besides, _ lives on the other side of the city off one of the back roads! Trust me it's faster this way!" Alfred yelled as he zinged around a curve.

A dog started crossing the road a little ways in front of them and Alfred slammed on the brakes, barely avoiding the dog and almost sending poor Kiku through the windshield.

"Woops, that was a close one!" Alfred laughed gently as he began driving again. To Kiku's complete relief he drove at a normal speed this time.

"Ok, we're here." Alfred said, parking on the side of the road. Kiku jumped out of the car, steadying his shaking legs before looking up at the building in front of him. It was probably four or five stories tall and looked old. Not about-to-fall-apart-trash-heap type old, just thoroughly worn.

Alfred flounced cheerfully past him towards the door and Kiku caught up as quickly as he could. Alfred was a tall guy. He looked strong and fast too. Kiku was decently sure he could take him down in a fight though. Probably. Maybe.

They reached the elevator and it was already there. As it started to move up Kiku's excitement began to turn into nervousness. She had left without telling him, or giving him any way to contact her. What if she didn't want to see him? What would he do then?

The ridiculously slow elevator finally came to a stop at the third floor. Without further ado, Alfred dragged Kiku quickly down the hallway until they stopped at a door identical (excepting the last digit of the room number) to all the others in the hallway.

Alfred knocked his knuckles against the door in a musical sounding pattern. "Come on in Alfred, the door isn't locked!" a female voice -not _'s though-called out.

Alfred twisted the knob and burst into the apartment "_~! I brought someone to see you!" It was too late to back out now.


	17. Found you

**Japan's POV**

"_~! I brought someone to see you!" Alfred called out loudly as he stepped into the room.

"Alfred, she's not here right now." the same voice said as Kiku stepped inside and pushed the door closed. A woman with graying (h/c) hair wearing a apron and wiping her hands on a dish towel came out of what Kiku guessed was a kitchen. Her face reminded Kiku a lot of _'s. It wasn't so much like hers that he would think that's what _ would look like when she got to her late forties (at least that's what he guessed her age was. He wasn't entirely sure) , but it was enough that he would bet she was her mother, or at least related to her in some way.

"Oh, who's your friend?" she smiled at Kiku.

"I, er, uh..." Alfred stuttered.

"Kiku Honda." Kiku spoke up, thinking to put it in English order, and bowing.

"Kiku it's nice to meet you! You can call me [mothers name] or Mrs. [last name]. Whichever you prefer." she smiled again and Kiku decided her smile looked almost exactly like _'s.

"It's nice to meet you as well Mrs. (l/n)."

"So if she isn't here where is she?" Alfred asked impatiently.

"Um, she's working right now. I'm not sure which job she's at though."

Alfred furrowed his eyebrows and looked up before his face lit up. "I think I know! Bye [moms name]!"

She laughed a little as Alfred literally dragged Kiku to the door. "Goodbye you two! Have a nice day, and tell _ I said hello!"

"Okay!" Alfred shouted as he jerked Kiku out the door and slammed it behind them, leaving _'s mother to laugh at them.

**Reader's POV**

It had been a long hard day but your shift was finally, finally, about to be over. Since you had nothing better to do, and rarely ever had time to do it, you would probably go home and work on homework. Yuck. Not what you wanted to do, not at all. But then, you'd been trying to keep your mind off of Kiku and you'd found that the best way to do that was to keep it busy. You were beginning to get tired though. You weren't sure how long you could keep going.

"God today has sucked!" your coworker groaned.

"Yeah, no kidding." you said under your breath as you finished ringing up the fat redneck that had just ordered. In Japan lots of interesting people might go through McDonalds, but here you seemed to get more fat guys, drunk guys, weirdos, psychos, or just some completely bored person that had no interest in you beyond "food lady."

You hadn't bothered to look up from your cash register when your next customer. "Hi, welcome to McDonalds." you quoted absently.

You weren't really listening but you caught the words "small fry and small drink." The voice sounded odd and vaguely familiar but you weren't interested enough to look up.

"That'll be two dollars and twelve cents." you said, still not registering the guys presence. You would probably go ahead and leave when you were done with this customer. You would go home and say hello to your mother and grab a bite to eat then get to work. The last thing you wanted was to have time to think.

The sound of change clinking as it hit the counter caught your attention, and you picked up the money. Then you noticed something. These weren't dollars. These were yen. You eyes shot up to the guy ordering. There was absolutely no way it could be... but it was. Kiku was standing there smiling at you.

"K-Kiku! What are you doing h-here?" you managed to squeak.

His face looked slightly downcast. "You left without even saying goodbye." it was your turn to look downcast. "Why? Why didn't you at least tell me you were leaving?"

"I... I saw you, that day in the park."

He looked completely confused. "What day? What park?"

You took a deep breath. "The day I left I went on a walk to a little park in the middle of Tokyo, and... and I saw you there with, with this girl. You were hugging her and everything!" You managed to blurt out. There, you said it. It felt a little better to have finally gotten it out in the open, like a weight had been lifted off your chest. The problem was, now the tears were trying to re-emerge. You fought them with all your strength.

Kiku's eyebrows furrowed and he looked as if he was thinking. Slowly a look of revelation crossed his face and he looked up at you, his face showing his relief. "That was my sister!"

"But... I met your sister..." You wouldn't dare let yourself hope too much. Or you'd try not to anyway. It wasn't really working.

"You met Yuki, my youngest sister. The one you saw was Sakiko, the older of my two younger sisters." Kiku explained, looking very happy.

"You mean... you... I... really?"

He nodded. You squealed. Without another thought you ran around the counter and glomped him full force, wrapping your arms around his neck and finally letting your leftover tears come out. Now though, they were tears of happiness. You felt Kiku's arms slip around your waist as you held each other close. You had really missed him.

After a moment Kiku pulled you back and looked you in the eye. "-, I love you _."

You almost screamed for joy right then. "I love you too Kiku!" You managed to say.

"Wow. Your life is just like a soap opera." You heard your coworker comment. Maybe it was in a way, but now that you had Kiku, you could care less. You loved him, and he loved you. What more could you ask for?


	18. Epilogue

Readers POV

It had been almost three months since Kiku had found you working at McDonalds that day. Kiku had called his family and arranged for them to send all of his things to [city]. He had found a small house (not an apartment! A real house) that he could afford with what he had saved up after two years working at McDonalds (seriously, when the only things you have to buy are food and clothing you get a lot of money saved up in two years). He had also transferred to a college within your state. It wasn't as prestigious or reputable as the one he had left, but he still got a full scholarship and they had all the classes he had wanted to take.

After the first month and a half, Kiku had asked you to move in with him. You didn't stay in the same room, but living in the same house with someone really helped you to learn about them. And the more you found out about him the more you loved him. With your combined income (what you weren't paying for your college fees anyway) it wasn't difficult to pay for the house and the things you needed, especially since Kiku had a decently easy job that payed a good deal at a book/art store. It had been a sinch for him (as a Japanese person) to get a job in the Japanese section, even though around half of it was anime and manga. He had an above average knowledge of traditional and modern Japanese culture so the owner was eager to employ him.

Now the two of you were at Alfred and Alice's wedding. It was a happy event for all involved. After all, if Al hadn't called you that day to tell you he was getting married, you might not have met Kiku, and would be as miserable as you had been for the previous years.

The wedding was large and grand. Alice's entire family came from England, and you got to meet the strange characters that were her mother and brothers. The only halfway sane ones in the family seemed to be Alice herself and her father, who was pretty quiet unless he was angry. He'd just about snapped his oldest son's leg in half when he tried to pull something at the practice.

Standing next to Alice as her maid of honor (after all, you were Alfred's best bud and she didn't have many friends in America as of yet) was a different sort of experience. Scott (A/N if you can't guess, that's the name I always use for human Scotland), Alice's oldest brother, kept giving you looks from his side of the altar. You weren't sure if they were flirtatious, sarcastic, angry, or happy. He seemed pretty antagonistic towards Alice, just like the rest of her brothers. But it was obvious she could handle herself.

Your eyes scanned the crowd quickly as the preacher droned on about marriage. Your eyes caught Kiku's and he smiled at you. You smiled back. He looked very nice dressed in a white suit with a red tie. He had dressed especially to match you in your red evening gown that Alice had picked for your dress. It went well with Scott's black suit and red tie and hair. The rest of the bridesmaids and groomsmen had blue dresses and suits with red accessories.

Walking down the aisle arm in arm with tall Scott made you a bit nervous but it was no big deal. You glanced at Kiku again as you passed him. He looked slightly annoyed, or at least that's what you guessed the slight downward turn of the corners of his lips meant.

At the reception Al and Al did the normal romantic thing and fed each other cake. Shortly after, Alice's brothers started recounting embarrassing childhood stories, making Alfred laugh and Alice get increasingly angry. Finally she had all she could take and threw a pitcher of punch at them. It was impossible to stop the following food fight.

Just as you managed to dodge a wad of flying macaroni, you felt someone grab your arm. You whirled around, ready to punch them if they tried to dirty your two hundred dollar dress, but paused when you saw Kiku. He had somehow managed to stay as clean as you had, excepting a tiny bit a gravy streaked across his right cheek.

"Oh Kiku!" you said smiling brightly.

He smiled back at you. "_, come with me." He grabbed your hand and quickly pulled you through a doorway leading away from the wedding party and flying food.

"Where are we going?" you asked. Kiku didn't answer, instead he pushed open another door. Through this door there was a large deck that had a countryside view. A highway cut across it at one point, and cars rushed both ways, looking almost like little bugs hurriedly scurrying to get where they needed to be. To you, it was just mind blowing that each of those cars represented at least one life. A life that thought, and felt just like you.

The sun was setting as Kiku lead you to the edge of the deck. Once there you saw two plates sitting on the rail, each with a piece of cake settled nicely in the middle. You smiled again. Kiku was the most thoughtful guy you'd ever met. You were especially thankful for it thanks to the fact that because of the impromptu food fight, you didn't get a chance to eat.

He picked up one plate and held it out to you. You took it gratefully and took a bite of the cake. It was chocolate (Alfred's request) with white icing (Alice's idea). You had to admit that despite their almost opposite personalities, Alfred and Alice wee perfect for each other. Maybe opposites really do attract.

After a you had finished your cake you looked over at Kiku, and saw that he was looking at you intently. You felt a blush rise to your cheeks and hoped the setting sun would disguise it. "What?"

He smiled, and you thought he may have been blushing a bit too. "You look very beautiful today."

You bit your lip and looked down a little. "It's just the dress." you managed quietly.

"No," he insisted, lifting your chin up "It's all you."

He pulled you into his arms and held you until the sun had completely disappeared, and the cake covered groom found you both. As the two of you followed your best friend inside, you let yourself wonder if maybe one day, you and Kiku would have your own special day.

THE END

A/N Sorry that took so long. I forgot to post it! ^^; Sorry. The sequel should be starting very soon so keep a lookout for it! :D


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